Contest Of Challengers

We’re not in San Diego; we’re melting in Chicago. We love “One Soul.” We mock Rupert Murdoch. But do we have a moral imperative to protect you from yourself?

Patrick cleans out his basement and finds a bunch of stuff he didn’t even know he had. So he describes it. Dal talks about Marvel’s ‘New Store Initiative.’ And they both recap a ‘state of Chicago comics retail’ night they had this week w/ a fellow retailer.

After a 2+ week break, Patrick and Dal realize they actually miss doing this show. So they talk... about Stuart Immonen and The Rogues Gallery, comic store fieldtrips, and why Dal is giving up super-hero comics for July.

Patrick was at the Summit City ComicCon while Dal was at the store hosting Around Comics. Ryan Browne and his awesome new comic "BLAST FURNACE: Recreational Thief" was at both! How is that even possible? Progress. American progress.

Oh come on, you KNOW what this one is all about. One thing. Well, 52 new things out of one thing.

Hey ho, strike one; last one in's a son of a gun. Hey ho, strike two; can't fight here, this is the war room. So kiss me quickly; who'll oblige? Oh come along now, don't be shy. Don't be all surface; no insides. Oh, no.You've got to stop your grumbling, and all that human bondage den. So swear the heat in baby, no neck ties.

The Challengers website has been streamlined. Comic shop employees make terrible Club Members. Macho Man Randy Savage died (sad). Our pal JVO wrote a book. I guess this episode description is just a string of sentences.  Also, that ‘peasant joke’ is actually about lepers and is from an MST3K Hercules movie. “The lepers are revolting!”  “I’ll say!”

Youth in Revolt! Party without books! Margaritas! Whose opinion do you really want? What makes a store event good? Are these even the right topics for this week’s episode? I can’t remember! I guess we’ll all find out together! Also, I completely forgot Dal’s episode title (it’s in there somewhere), so I had to pick something else.  Sorry, Dal.

Free Comic Book Day 2011 was amazing. And here we tell you why.

How do you know where to find the Graphic Novels you’re looking for at Challengers? Dal proposes a new racking system and he and Patrick debate its merits. It’s a question without a complete answer and it is beaten to death in a frank and open discussion. And the return of the completely random post-podcast segments!

Ha! I thought this was episode 13. We’ve had 2 ‘lost’ episodes in recent weeks, so my internal numbering is off. Anyway, this whole episode gets away from us and becomes darker than we planned. What started as a “we’re not complaining, but…” episode, turns into an hour of outright publisher bashing. But, man do I feel better!

It’s an all-podcast crossover episode with Contest of Challengers, Comics Slumber Party, Comic Geek Speak and Word Balloon all represented!  So let’s go back to Season 1 numbering as we talk to Becky Cloonan.

This episode is called “The Hammer” for reasons that were edited out. But the name stuck. What you DO get is a C2E2 wrap-up, reasons why Becky Cloonan is pretty f’n awesome and the promised listener mail answers! Buckle up; it’s a long one!

We don’t mean it to, but this episode is chock full of our C2E2 thoughts, set-up, plans and goals.  Not all at once, mind you, we spread it out for you. And Dal has some pretty great thoughts about the way digital comics should be made. See you at C2E2!

Like a new line of clothing on the runway, this week Patrick and Dal trot out a list of reasons why they do/don't do the things they do/don't do. Less industry wide/more of a Challengers-specific focus. And the answer to the Riddle of the Ages!

Oh man, this one has it all—and LESS! We go from having nothing to talk about to having TOO much to talk about in the span of an hour. We get mad at each other and tensions rise, but we work thru it because we are pros. PROS!  Here’s a brief rundown: MSU’s Comic & Visual Narrative class; the end of DC’s First Wave line leads into Dal’s ultimate super-hero publishing plans; Marvel’s ‘new’ direction for the Marvel Adventures line; more on Ted Adams' Keynote Address from the 2011 ComicsPRO Conference; our secret shopper grade, and less… because we lost our first 5 or so minutes, including Patrick’s first-ever attempt at a disclaimer.  Dal says it all (at 24 minutes and 9 seconds in), “God, this one’s gonna be a winner.”

This week on the ART OF WRESTLING podcast, host and pro-wrestling icon COLT CABANA talks about support for the show and the possibility of a live recording in the spring.  Elsewhere, Dal’s mind completely freezes and there is talk of Border’s effect on the current comic-buying climate. And... a bonus phone call from Jimmy P$ Hayes!

Man, are we on a roll! So much so that for the second time in 2011 we've had to increase our monthly podcast storage memory to accommodate our more-than-regular schedule! This one is a little shorter as we've already hit you with a Season 1 episode this week, but there's always a little something worth talking about in comics! Featuring Fear Itself vs. Flashpoint and a brief analysis on trying to sell 33 million convention tickets.

What? Season 1 numbering? What's going on?!? It's the return to the interview format (and thus Season 1 numbering) as Patrick happily welcomes Samantha LaFountain to Challengers! What gets a 9-year old girl from the wilds of rural New Jersey interested in comics? Where do you even get comics in rural New Jersey? These questions and many, many others are answered in our giggliest episode to date!